That’s A Wrap

More than 25,000 people attended this year’s Fine Food Australia at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, cementing its position as the largest food trade event in the country.

Visitors over the four days had the opportunity to engage with more than 1,000 exhibitors on the show floor who represented foodservice, retail and bakery industries, and who came from every state. This year’s event also saw more than 35 countries from around the world represented.

Event Director Minnie Constan says, “This year we had quite a few first-time events, famous faces, and also topics covered on our stages. We saw a great level of support from the industry with the likes of Jacques Reymond, Kylie Kwong, Tetsuya Wakuda, Agathé Kerr, Stéphane Leroux, Adriano Zumbo, Kirsten Tibballs, and Darren Purchese all sharing their industry knowledge.

“We held trend-focused seminars from Food Industry Foresight, Food Innovations Australia Ltd and Export Connect that all ensured that we are keeping our visitors at the top of their game, whatever area of the food industry they operate within.”

Minnie says the show also had some amazing launches, including Callebaut’s Ruby RB1.

“The launch of Callebaut’s Ruby RB1 chocolate —the first new chocolate wrap in over 80 years—was a huge, and delicious, event,” she says.

2018 saw a range of new features roll out at the show, including a dedicated Fitout and Design zone, and the Australian selections for the World Trophy of Pastry, Gelato, and Chocolate.

Favourite returning features included the hotly contested Lions’ Den, which was taken out by food waste tracker system Lean Path; the Nestlé Professional Women in Foodservice Awards run by Foodservice Magazine; the World Tea Brewers Championship (won by Danny Andrade of Bowen Hills); and of course the Great Aussie Pie Competition where the top honour was awarded to Four Seasons Patisserie in Kelmscott, WA.

This year’s line-up of free education sessions spanned three stages on the Fine Food floor and tackled a range of issues from the dark side of hospitality to making the perfect croissant.

Fine Food Australia will return to the Sydney ICC from 9 to 12 September 2019.